BOO! Some truly scary stuff to share in this Halloween’s Web-writing news, not the least of which is the mother of all perfect storms (#Sandy) slamming the northeastern (U.S.) coast.

Several online marketers, from retail stores to dating sites, “newsjacked” the event – and some suffered considerable social media blowback for taking it too far.

For instance, Mike Volpe, CMO at HubSpot, retracted the site’s original post, “5 Creative Hurricane Sandy Newsjacks From Savvy Marketers,” tweaking the content and renaming the original URL “Is Newsjacking Hurricane Sandy Right or Wrong?”

Volpe also issued an apology for the original post being “in poor taste” and thanked David Meerman Scott for calling them on it.

That said, this week’s selection of SEO, search, content and social media marketing news is thick with scary truths, frightening realities, and wicked perspectives! Okay – that was a trick. The treats awaiting you are far more edifying than horrifying… Enjoy!

Content Marketing

Gabriella Sannino posts the insightful and expansive “Behavioral Targeting, Conversion Psychology, Content Personalization, and Privacy: How To Get The Right Message To The Right People at the Right Time Without Being Creepy” at Level 343.

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